Re: The commercial nursery

I would like to provide a little bit different perspective on selling irises.
 Although last year was my last for putting out a price list, my garden, The
Iris Pond, was a labor of love that certainly did not lose money.  Contrary
to what some people think, it did not generate massive Swiss bank accounts,
but it not only supported my hobby, but also paid for my son's college
education at the Univ. of VA and some very nice Christmas presents for those
most dear.   

I began selling irises by mail at the urging of several local hybridizers,
e.g. George Crossman, D. C. Nearpass et al, because they did not want to
introduce irises themselves but had some difficulty getting the "big boys" to
handle their irises.  Although I listed many types of irises, I concentrated
on irises types that few were selling in the early 80's, i.e. rebloomers,
Japanese, Siberians, MTB's, and later historic irises.  The first few years
all the irises came out of my own garden, but as time went by, because of my
limited space, I had to ask others to grow many of the irises I listed
(always on a 50-50 basis, with me bearing the cost of doing business). 

I advertised in AIS Bulletin and garden magazines like Flower and Garden,
Horticulture, etc. with little cheap ads that emphasized a specialty, like
rebloomers, or I. florentina...the ads always paid off handsomely. (In your
address in the ad you add something like "DEPT FG" for Flower and Garden, or
"DEPT H" for Horticulture so you will know how well the ad produces orders.
 I also shipped to Europe and Japan, and had some  commercial nurseries as
customers in Belgium, France, and England, as well as "regular" customers.
   

New introductions almost always got color picture ads in the AIS
Bulletin---and the color pictures sold the irises. These ads always paid for
themselves several times over with one exception.  The color picture ad for
Carol Warner's Siberian SHAKER'S PRAYER did not produce many orders---but
after people saw it at the 1991 AIS Convention I sold out!  And of course the
iris went on to win the President's Cup, the Walther Cup, and the Morgan-Wood
Medal.  My mistake on this ad was to have a picture of a single stalk instead
of a clump---should have known better.
 
Because I could not grow in quantity, I said up front that if I ran out of an
item I would substitute two irises, of similar type, and of at least twice
the value, for anyone I could not provide unless the customer advised they
did not want substitues.  At least 90% of the people were delighted to get
two for one!  Also, I said up front if any iris did not live the first year I
would replace it---I was not concerned whose "fault" it was.  

I delighted in giving customers lots of "extras", especially of types of
irises that they did not order.  I definitely "pushed" AIS, and told
customers that they could get real bargains at local iris club sales.  I also
recommended other iris nurseries, especially if The Iris Pond could not meet
specific requests. 

I made so many wonderful friends by selling irises. My biggest seller was
always I. florentina---even today, it is hard to find iris sellers who carry
it.  Strange, because I could sell every piece I could get my hands on!  The
rebloomers I carried were rebloomers that were "proved" dependable in
Virginia...I would not sell a "rebloomer" just because it was registered as
such.  It had to do well in my garden.  
When I tried to slow down, and reduced the number of irises I sold, the
number of orders just picked up.  When I raised prices, orders just picked up
more.  Finally, the "business" was just taking too much of my time and
keeping me from doing other things...so I decided to stop selling. 

 One of the best "sellers" was always a collection, e.g. 10 quality standard
dwarf bearded irises, all named and labeled, for $20.00, or 10 different
Siberians for $45.00, etc, etc.  You can put in these collections the good
cultivars that you have a lot of.  (Even when I listed 10 of this or that for
a price, I always added several plants as "extras" so people were delighted
with the bargains.)

I decided to provide my experience with this so that others who might enjoy
it would not be discouraged.  I had lots of fun, made lots of new friends,
helped people "find" the joys of different types of irises for their garden,
and got to introduce a lot of people to AIS.  Currently, there are not a lot
of people who sell species irises, and those who do usually don't list a wide
variety---there is a market niche for someone.  There are not a lot of people
selling a wide variety of Siberians, which are in the east the best of irises
for landscaping.  

There are not a lot of people selling MTBs or historic irises (demand is
incredible for historics!).  I say, go to it if you like irises, like people,
and don't mind working!!!!  Clarence Mahan in VA
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